requesting to go up a reading level declined, i'm a bit miffed as to why.

[tomhardyismydh]

my dd in year R, has recently moved up to level 4 (blue), they seem to be shorter than the yellow books. DD is able read them confidently, follow the story and discuss. I requested in her book if she could try a level 5 (green book).

DD came home saying teacher told her she could not as they have complicated words and are for 7 year olds. The teachers rarely listen to them reading indipendently and although Im sure she has a very good idea of her benchmark I thought she should know this is within dds capability.

I just wondered how many of your year R children are on level 5 or above.

no stealth boasting though, I was just wondering if this was an unreasonable request.

[redskyatnight]

Also, it's worth remembering that books within a book band vary a lot. Who changes her book? Is it your DD herself? At this stage DS could read the ORT books very easily and fluently, whereas some of the other "types of books" he really struggled with. Has she been reading a variety of "types of books" within the level?

[tomhardyismydh]

she changes own books, in other bands she rarely had ort as she didnt like then tended to bring non fiction, but she only tends to bring ort from this band she says they are only ort, but Im not sure. she changes her book everyday

[blackeyedsusan]

tomh, mrz often says yr children ranged from pink band 1 to white band 10. All of which is normal.

we have a similar problem with school as dd is reading 6 bands above her school level at home,(confidence issues may explain some of this) doing lots of comprehension, using punctiution, using contents and index pages etc. (probably something to do with having an early years teacher for a mum) she is quite happy to read school books though and reads the instructions for parents at the beginning and end, which gives her some decoding practice. we use the books to get her to retell the story, she can answer questions about the stories she reads and will occasionally summarise the story for me with a suitable bribe.. but school books are useful for retelling the whole story as they are shorter. Sometimes i cna be bothered to think up extension activities for the school book, rewriting the story (dd dictates) or thinking of some extra describing words for the pictures...but it is demorilising sometimes.

I found it helped to read books from the library and write these into her reading diary. I try to get no fiction, stories and poems. I occasionally find a banded book to check her progress (for my own sanity) I have had to try and let it go, with a lot of help from mn, although i do get really annoyed about it now and again.

[galois]

op, just do reading chest at home with her. Doesn't matter what school do, then.

[fun12]

I think it massively depends on teacher. My ds ended year 5 on level 5 books then after summer holidays in year 1 was put up 3 levels straight away, despite not doing too much over the summer. The pace has continued this year which has given my ds lots of confidence and he is about to become a free reader after level 13 at our school.
Best thing is to read loads of books which interest them from library etc, regardless of their level.

[Dancergirl]

I would really leave it to the school regarding reading levels. Remember as your child starts to read more and more, they will hopefully be reading a wide range of books and the school 'reading book' will only be one of many books they are reading.

I can't remember much about levels but it sounds like your dd is doing very well. Supplement her school reading book with lots of books at home that she can read. The 'read it yourself' ones are good. And I think Usborne do a range.

[ballstoit]

Do all reading schemes have the same levels?

[oldsilver]

DS has a super reception teacher, they change book levels individually when the books cease to be a challenge. He is now on Purple (haven't seen any unsuitable books for a 5 year old yet); has good comprehension, uses inflection - just basically a pleasure to listen to. Like the fact though that it is based individually on each child.

[blackeyedsusan]

Bloody key board... finally ill children are in bed and I get to proof read... non fiction,
can

and put bad grammer down to ill children...

[tomhardyismydh]

[fairydoll]

the books they bring home are supposed to be a level below the teaching level they do in guided reading.They are supposed to be easy to build their confidence and enjoyment rather than a challenge!

[Sylvaniasandwich]

It doesn't matter that much what they read so long as they enjoy it. Take her to the library and get some slightly more challenging books for her to read at home if you like.

[CardboardFox]

We had the same with my DD, and my advice would be not to stress. DD could not read at start of reception, but by Xmas in year 1 was reading Roald Dahl and by summer term Harry Potter. School meanwhile were slowly progressing her through the book bands. I can't remember what level she was on, but I do know she curiously managed to finish the reading scheme just as she left year 2 .

One comment that stuck in my mind was at the first parent's evening in year one when her teacher said 'yes, some of the others are starting to catch up with miniCardboardFox now'. I helped in that class for a year - no other child was even close to dd in terms of their reading, but then she was/is a total book addict. She has been G&T for literacy ever since she went into Yr 3. Yr R to yr 2, no mention was made of this .

This information is by way of explaining the difference in her ability compared with that of the rest of the class btw. The point is, this situation, while frustrating for me, didn't hold her back, she did not lose her love of books. At school, she did guided reading with the others and just got on with it, even though it was easy peasy for her. She took in her own books to read once she had exhausted the class stocks of chapter books, she read her once-a-week reading scheme book on the morning at breakfast on the day it had to be handed in, and we went to the library and she chose whatever she wanted from there.

It really doesn't matter what books school are giving her if you make sure she gets to read outside of school whatever she wants. A child really eager to learn will do so; a school laboriously following a reading scheme does not have the power to squash that love of books.

I do admit though, as a parent I wanted to jump up and down about it sometimes - it seemed like her teachers didn't understand her ability or were unable to deal with it. I never really understood why, but in the greater scheme of things, it really didn't matter.

[Catsu]

My ds has just gone up to level 2 and I thought he was doing really well!

[fivegomadindorset]

I know where you are coming from Catsu.